


Rough Around The Edges

by dean_colette



Series: Space Between Us [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Canon Universe, Fluff, Gift Exchange, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-20 23:29:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13728297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dean_colette/pseuds/dean_colette
Summary: "We’re in space, Keith. Have been here for two years. Will be here for who knows how long. I don’t want to forget Earth, Keith. I don’t want to forget how home feels like.”It all started when Keith saw bottles filled with sand in Lance’s room.Or, in which Lance and Keith exchange gifts...- of things that remind them of Earth. Of home.Day 1: Home/Earth





	Rough Around The Edges

“Lance?” Keith called out from outside Lance’s room. Hunk asked him if he could call Lance for breakfast. Why him of all people in the castle? He had no idea. But you can’t refuse to Hunk especially when he was looking at you with that kind smile. So, here was Keith. “Hey, Lance. Time for breakfast.”

No answer.

Keith frowned, stepping closer to the door until the castle sensed him and it opened. “Lance?”

None. Lance was not in his room.

Keith paused for a second before he decided,  _ fuck it _ , he entered the room and the door closed on his back. The lights were on and Keith scanned the room. None. Even his pajama robe was hanged neatly by the wall. Hm.  _ So he left already. No need to stay here any long-  _

His eyes fell on Lance’s bed. Or to be more precise, the box on Lance’s bed. 

Out of curiosity, Keith walked towards it. 

_ Earth Things _ .

The words were scribbled on top of it. Lance’s handwriting, Keith could tell from the way the initials were written in a larger font as compare to the other letters. Though, all letters were capitalized. Keith would never say this out loud but he’d always thought that Lance had a cute handwriting.

He opened the box and...he didn’t know what he was expecting, but this wasn’t it.

Sand.

Lance had three small bottles filled with white sand. Here, in a box with a label of  _ ‘Earth Things’.  _ Before he even had the time to comprehend what this meant, he heard the swish of the opening door. And there came Lance.

“What are you doing- Why are you holding that?!”Lance stomped towards him, face set in a scowl but there was a light blush on his face. That was...kinda cute. Was he embarrassed that Keith found his stuff?

“I didn’t know you’re into collecting dusts,” Keith said, letting go of the box so Lance could tug it to himself, watching in amusement as he hugged it to his chest as if Keith would do something to it. What a ridiculous guy.

“It’s sand! Not dusts!”

“Sounds the same to me.”

“Why do you care anyway?”

“I don’t.”

“Then why are you holding it?!”

“Curious.”   
“Ah, goddammit. I hate how apathetic you are here!”

“Why do you have those?”

“It’s none of your business!”

Keith’s eye twitched. Okay, wow. Lance was, once again, getting on Keith’s nerves. First, he told him that he hated how apathetic he was. And now that he was asking, Lance was telling him it was none of his business. What the fuck.

Keith just rolled his eyes. They were now facing each other and Lance was still holding the box like Keith was gonna steal it. Unbelievable. “Whatever. Food’s ready. Go to the dining area.”

He was about to leave when Lance pulled him by the  arm. “Ugh, fine. Sorry about that.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

“Now can you let me go? I’m hungry.”

Lance...was giving him a weird look. Like he wanted to say something to Keith. In the end, he decided to not to. “Okay. I’ll be there in a sec.”

Keith nodded and he was on the way out when Lance’s voice stopped him again. “Wait up!” Keith looked over his shoulder. His eyes widened when he saw one bottle flying towards him. It was a good thing he had good reflexes otherwise, that would have hurt his face. 

He inspected the box. It was sparkling under the light. It was pretty, actually. But Keith had seen enough sand in this lifetime to be more impressed. He looked at Lance who was avoiding his gaze. “What’s this?”

“Uh, sand?”

Keith raised an unimpressed brow. 

“Ugh, a gift. It’s yours.”

Keith’s look was transferred back to the bottle in his hand, then to Lance, to the bottle, then back to Lance. Okay, he was serious. “Thanks? But- “

“It reminds me of Earth sand. Reminds me of Earth.”

Oh.

Keith didn’t know what to say. Mouth dry from Lance’s sudden revelation.  _ Earth Things.  _ That’s why the box was labeled as that, because Lance had just started collecting things that reminded him of Earth. Of where they used to be before all this shit happened.

Luckily, Lance wasn’t yet done talking. This time, his eyes never left Keith’s. “I just...I dunno. We’re in space, Keith. Have been here for two years. Will be here for who knows how long. I just...don’t want to forget how Earth is. How home feels like.”

Keith guessed he should be shocked by Lance’s sudden vulnerability. But...really, he was not. It’s so Lance to just randomly pour down his feelings even to the person he called rival.

And just how long had he been keeping this? 

“I shouldn’t have said that.” 

Keith didn’t realize that he was only staring at Lance with an unreadable expression until Lance uttered those. 

“No, it’s okay.” 

_ No, it’s okay?  _ Was that...was that the best Keith could manage? What the heck?

From the slack of his shoulder and the drop of his eyes, Keith could tell that that wasn’t the response Lance wanted to hear. “Yeah. Okay. Thanks.”

Lance slid the box under his bed and before Keith could say another word, Lance left the room. 

Leaving Keith inside watching Lance’s back until the door slid shut and enveloped him in a deafening silence.

\--

One week. One Earth week.

The Sand Incident (as Keith liked to call it) happened a week ago. While Lance was acting normal around them, around  _ him, _ something on the back of Keith’s head was nagging him that he should do something. That he should’ve said something.

But there’s no point dwelling on what he hadn’t able to do on the past. Not like he could bring time back.

Keith sighed and flopped on his bed. His arm was outstretched and in between his fingers was the bottle Lance gave him.

_ No, it’s okay. _

Keith groaned at the memory. He dropped the bottle on the foot of his bed and covered his face with his arms. Goddammit. Just remembering his response was pissing him off. That was even worse than when he told Lance to  _ ‘Leave the math to Pidge’.  _ And even that was at least answered back with a smile, albeit a bit forced. But still, it was a huge contrast to the evident look of disappointment on Lance’s face.

Why was he so bad at this… Why was talking so fucking difficult…

Why was talking even more difficult when it came to things that matter…

Keith moved to his side, and his eyes landed on the bottle. He was about to push it under his bed when his hand stopped mid-air, an idea popping in his head.

Well...he didn’t need to actually talk now, did he?

-

They had just come back to the castle from their successful alliance with the citizens of Arawan. It was...a lively country. Pretty and bright. Orange, green and yellow seemed to be the dominant colors in the planet. Their sky orange, like a permanent sunrise and it was...warming. 

Earth. Very Earth-like. 

And Keith didn’t fail to notice how Lance took a photo of the sky. Just the sky. 

Keith? Well, he had done something on its own. Thanks to the one alien who helped him. 

So where was he now? Here. Sneaking on Lance, making sure that he wasn’t in his room before Keith did what he needed to do. On his one hand was a small box, and what’s inside it…

Nothing special.

But Lance would appreciate it, Keith knew that.

“Hmm…” The humming distracted Keith from his thoughts. There. That was Lance. Coming out of his room carrying all his bathroom...stuff.  _ Good.  _ Lance always took so much time doing that thing on his face. Keith wouldn’t get caught.

Once Lance turned a corner and was out of sight, Keith sprinted from his location to the room. 

And he was once again alone in Lance’s room.

Keith took a deep breath before he walked towards the bed and placed the box on it. 

Now this was making him anxious.

It was...it was normal, okay? Lance gave him a sand gift. There was nothing extraordinary about Keith giving him a gift back. And remembering that disappointed expression on Lance’s face…

Keith had decided. He’d give this to Lance. 

He swallowed the lump in his throat before he pulled the note he wrote earlier and placed it under the box.

Sparing the gift one last glance, Keith left the room.

\--

_ Sunflower petal. But not really a sunflower. One of the flowers in Arawan had these variance of colors and this one in particular looks like a sunflower. A resident told me that this will take two Earth years before it wither. Alien magic, probably. _

_ \- Keith. _

\--

Keith was certain he had given that gift to Lance. Sure. 100%.

But Lance didn’t show signs that he’d seen the gift. Not once did he even asked Keith about it. He just acted the usual.

He didn’t know what to feel about that.

There he was, anxious about giving that gift and Lance...had no reaction? Keith was not expecting him to bow down and kiss his feet, but at least, some recognition wouldn’t hurt.  _ ‘Hey man, saw the sunflower.’  _ That. That would be okay to Keith, but none. Zero. 

He really didn’t know what to feel. Maybe Lance didn’t like it and didn’t bother telling Keith that.

Ugh. But Lance wasn’t like tha-

“Oh, shit!” 

Keith was distracted by his Lance-thoughts that the gladiator he was fighting just fucking slammed his side. Goddammit. Now Lance was disturbing his training session. Great.

“Training sequence, done!” he shouted as he clutched his side, the gladiator which was about to attack him again then fell into a lifeless doll.

Ah, shit. 

Still clutching his side, Keith made his way out and back to his room. Ice, ice was enough. He didn’t need a healing pod for this small bruise that would surely form in a few minutes.

When he entered his room, it was the same as always. HIs neat bed, jacket on the hanger, and that’s it. Keith didn’t have much in his room.

But…

Keith walked towards his bed and saw...a pebble.

A pebble on his bed. Keith inspected the pebble between his fingers. It looked...normal. Earth-type of normal. 

His eyes landed on the paper on his bed.

What he read made him smile, the pain on his side momentarily forgotten. There was a flutter in his chest that he willed to leave him alone. It was warming ang quickly spreading to his whole body, particularly up his neck, to his cheek.

Fuck.

_ A plain pebble for a plain ass dude like you. Got that from the last planet we were in. You have no idea how difficult it was to find a normal rock out there (I think that’s normal???). There. That one looks like those back at home. And again, it reminds me of you cause you’re a plain ass dude. _

_ \- Lance _

\--

They never talked about the gifts. 

They talked, yes. They banter, yes. They still fought like kids, yes. But they never talked about the gifts they left on each other’s bed. But sometimes, Keith would notice Lance looking at him with this unreadable expression. And he would look away once Keith noticed.

Hm.

Throughout the weeks, they’d exchange so much things that Keith had to find himself a box. Though, unlike Lance, he didn’t write anything on it. 

Sometimes, he’d find himself smiling when he browsed the items. Lance’s letter making them much better.

 

_ You know what’s big? Haha ;)  _

_ This seashell! _

_ \- Lance _

 

_ They call me coffee cause I *insert an innuendo here that I won’t say to you coz it’s embarrassing as shit* _

_ \- Lance _

(It looked like a coffee bean, but one sniff of it proved that nope, it wasn’t. Keith quickly put it back to its container.)

 

_ The little things do matter. _

_ \- Lance _

(And it was small that Keith had to ask Coran for a magnifying glass. It was rock with a carving of what seemed like a seahorse. He had no idea where Lance found that.

...Yeah. The little things do matter.)

 

And a lot more.

Lance’s notes were playful, a lot of time flirty. But it’s not like he meant it in a ‘flirting with Keith’ way. Lance was just like that.

Either way, it brought smile on Keith’s face often (always). And the fluttering feeling in his chest. Lance was an idiot.

But he was funny. 

And yeah, a little cute.

\--

When Keith entered his room that night, he was not expecting anything different in his room. Or at least, he was expecting Lance’s gift on his bed.

What he didn’t expect was Lance being actually  _ there.  _ Sitting on his bed, like he had been waiting for Keith. 

Lance’s head raised and a smile formed in a smile once he saw Keith’s form. Keith didn’t bother to open the lights so there he stood, just in front of the now closed door, in the dark, watching as Lance stood from the bed and made his way towards him. He could only barely see him, almost a shadow, but he was here and he was smiling but there was something serious in his eyes. The seriousness that he had only seen through him during their missions.

“What are you doing here?” Keith asked when Lance stopped just in front of him. He was so close that Lance’s fuzzy slippers brushed on Keith’s boots. 

Lance was silent for a second before he stretched his arms on his side. “Giving you my gift.”

“What?”

“Step closer.”

Keith only stared at him before he obliged. 

Just one step-  _ oh. _

Lance’s arms were around him. 

Lance was pulling him tighter. Hands pressed on his back.

_ Oh. _

Lance buried his face on Keith’s neck. Inhaling… Keith shivered as warm breaths ghosted over his skin.

He was hugging Keith.

Warm and tight and so so close. Like he was trying to make Keith feel  _ something.  _ Like he was transferring his heat to Keith. Because Keith was cold, extremely so. And it wasn’t even the type of cold that he was aware of. It was the type of cold that was always there in him. Hiding, lurking,  _ waiting. _

And Lance was making him realize of that. 

That he needed this warmth. This warm body that was holding him like he was afraid he’d go away.

He was only hugging Keith.

“Hey, Lance...what’s this?” Keith whispered, surprised by the gentleness of his voice.

“Your gift.” Lance was equally gentle. Like Keith, he was also afraid to shatter the calmness and gentility between them.

“My gift?”

“Yes. This is your gift.”

“Care to explain?”

“Constant human affection is important, you know? We shouldn’t forget that.”

Keith wanted to say something to twist that statement.

That it didn’t matter. It’s not like Keith had a lot of this even back home. And that, ironically enough, being up here in space, where there were only six people around him, he had the most human affection.

Or maybe joke around and tell Lance that maybe he just had no idea what gift to give anymore. That he was doing this sentimental shit as just an excuse.

He could say those.

He could say anything.

But he didn’t.

Keith nodded, and Lance felt it.

Hesitantly, he raised his arms and wrapped them back around Lance. Loosely at first, before they tightened. Until he was holding Lance like Lance was holding him. Afraid but determined. Awkward but comfortable. Out of character but welcomed.

And Keith closed his eyes, tightened his grip on Lance’s robe, buried his face on Lance’s neck, inhaled the vanilla scent he was emanating.

_ Home. _

Maybe this is what home felt like.

_ Lance feels like home. _

**Author's Note:**

> It's so hard for me to write because of writer's block and I'm not that fond of how this turned out but hopefully, you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading! :3  
> Scream with me on [my tumblr](https://s-h-a-r-p-shooter.tumblr.com/)


End file.
